Richard Cagley

The brute force approach to studying will almost always produce beneficial results. That is, if I spend an inordinate amount of time in one particular class the grade will probably be reflective. The fact is, anyone who has made it in here has the abilities to perform well.

The trick of course is to work smarter. This becomes of paramount importance due to the heavy work load and technical difficulty surrounding most classes. Even though I consider my work style somewhat inefficient, there are a few tricks I have picked up along the way.

  1. Stress early. Let's say I have three papers due three weeks from now. Well if I put them all off until the last minute I'll have a great three weeks up till they are all due. It helps me a lot to spread the work out over this whole time.

  2. Try to understand what is going on in a class early on instead of right before a test. When the prof is going over stuff in class really try to concentrate on what he is saying and get some understanding. If you're way too hung over or tired then at least get the notes and look over them that night. In this way, the next lecture might actually mean something.

  3. Be anal -- be very anal. Keep notes, notebooks, technical points, yadda yadda yadda in order for easy reference. Don't let anything slip by you cause it'll come around and work you over later.

  4. Learn when to not work. A little relaxation at key times can really help make your studying more efficient.

  5. Learn to blow things off. You only have so much time to do many separate tasks. Force yourself to do the important things well and push the lesser taks off till later. It's all about time managment.